Numerical investigation on enhancing heating performance in automotive radiator

Abstract EN

In this paper, the improvement of heat exchange in a compact heat exchanger that is used in the automotive cooling system is numerically studied due to the importance that this part of the automotive represents in removing the heat generated in the automotive engine.

The study adopted CFD simulation to introduce a new design of radiator that included changing the geometry and material of the tube while maintaining the same cross-section area In addition, the study also included replacing the shape of the fins from the louver to plain fin with the increase in the number of tubes.

The study used a water-Ethylene glycol mixture (50:50) as a hot fluid with four flow rates (10, 12, 18, 24) l/h, (75, 85, 95) °C inlet temperature, and air as a cold fluid with 1.5, 2.5, 4.5, 5.5) m/s and (35) °C inlet temperature.

Through the results obtained, the designed model appeared to have a higher thermal performance than the standard model due to the material and shape of the tube and fins.

The designed model performed well, achieving an improvement ratio of (18.6%) for the heat transfer rate, (13.8%) for the overall heat transfer coefficient for the hot fluid, and (29.8%) for the air side heat transfer coefficient